ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 I only own the soft flex Mermaid complete that I bought from Stoked a couple of years ago, so I have little experience and definitely cannot give advice to someone with enough mass to bend light (happy emoticon). I can say that a flexy feeling definitely helps me "find the groove", and is likely to be a necessary part of getting the LDP feel. Maybe investigate to see if the RoeRacing Mermaid or Triton decks in the stiff flex are appropriate for your weight? I just looked at the Roe website and they don't list weight recommendations. Try giving them a phone call. It is probably better to stick with purpose-designed LDP decks and dump the kick tail requirement. I'd like to try G|Bomb brackets with one of those simple rectangular decks, but I think that the wide nose of my Mermaid helps me get leverage with my lead foot (I am small in stature, <140 lbs). On the downside, one has to be very careful with wheelbite. I fear that switching to a full cutaway deck and lower height will inhibit my pumping power. But for a bigger guy, there might not be any issue with getting enough leverage. As for carving, if you mean downhill carving, I'd exercise a large amount of caution. I'm too chicken to try carving my LDP setup down a steeper pitch. My impression is that an LDP-optimized setup is inherently unstable at speed, and it must be difficult to skid the softer wheels that are often used. At least with G|Bomb brackets you can change the geometry of the trucks to make them less wobbly and maybe swap in stiffer bushings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 Bend light, eh. This probably came from the times we shared a chair at A-basin... time was dilating and slowing and you were wondering... is this taking forever or what! ;-) I think I found the deck I was looking for... Sk8kings Blaster. http://www.sk8kings.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&Product_Code=SK8KINGS009ZUBL&Category_Code=SK8LB ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 (edited) Longboardin, the boardside and street side bushings I use on my bennet front are the most important. At 200lbs I use khiro short cones one dark blue and one orange. I melt them together to form an hourglass. I use a tall orange cone on top. The rebound I get from the combo/hourglass bushing makes all the difference for me. Also using a drop down deck/not a drop through. The photo has different bushings as I was mid experimentation. I bought every color and tried as any combinations as I could think of to dial it in. The big barrels on board side had a tendency to bind up for me/ hence the custom hourglass Edited April 13, 2014 by slopestar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted April 14, 2014 Report Share Posted April 14, 2014 Nice deck. I had the guy from The Ripple (he goes by the alias Concrete Liberty on the pavedwave forum) setup the trucks with bushings he thought best would suite my stature and skating ability. I got my lime reflex zips and put them on this morning. My son had an out of town soccer game so I only got to test it out around my house. Seems good so far on the old downhill deck. I even bombed a hill... wheeee.... carvy. Of course it's about to rain here and turn to SNOW Monday night with accumulations in the 2-3" range by Tuesday. CRAZY!!! ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted April 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2014 (edited) I just placed an order at Daddie's for some stuff. The "spring" coupon code works until the end of April. I bought the Daddie's brand ceramic bearings. I'm tired of my current bearings rusting if I even look at water. I've ordered up a variety of Venom SHR bushings to try, including the tall ones that are made for Ronin trucks. These should fit the Bennett boardside height well. I really like the SHR formulation. I got my Mermaid out of storage and have been getting it ready. The front Cindrich (Cinnett) has a Khiro orange barrel roadside, and a Venom Eliminator SHR olive 80a over Khiro orange cone. I get great rebound from this, but I think that the boardside height is too tall and it is causing the roadside bushing to be horribly chewed up by the kingpin threads. The rear Tracker RTS has a blue Khiro over an olive Venom SHR cone. I had to put an additional 1/8" riser under both trucks to help keep wheelbite at bay. The stock complete config as sold by Stoked Skateboards didn't have enough height for me. Edited April 14, 2014 by ExcelsiorTheFathead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted April 15, 2014 Report Share Posted April 15, 2014 my roadside always gets trashed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted April 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2014 my roadside always gets trashed... Yeah, I guess that's probably most often the case. I ordered these weird washers to see if the metal sleeve will help reduce chewing. I haven't checked Pavedwave for any reviews, however. I haven't looked at the forum for months. It's too hard to keep up. I need someone to write up a quarterly summary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 I think I found the deck I was looking for... Sk8kings Blaster.http://www.sk8kings.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&Product_Code=SK8KINGS009ZUBL&Category_Code=SK8LB Woo-hoo! Just rode my Blaster for the first time tonight. Whotta difference! I pumped uphill and carved down. Kicktails so nice... 180's in the trail and no puttin' the feet down. I need to do that bushing thing in the front to keep my foot from coming off. If I'd been able to pump like that so long ago... only if... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted May 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 Pump every day and you could weigh 200 by the end of the summer. Put on a "Cutters" T-shirt and pump around campus. I'll bet that none of the college students can pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 Pump every day and you could weigh 200 by the end of the summer. Put on a "Cutters" T-shirt and pump around campus. I'll bet that none of the college students can pump. If I pump every day I'm going to lose an extremity?! I'm 15% body fat @242lbs as of last week. I've got Cutter's shirts from my soccer coaching... I'll make sure to wear one the next time I'm out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 How much do you really need one of these specialized setups? I've got my old flexy slalom deck set up with some Indy 101s and ABEC-11 Grippins and it pumps fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 How much do you really need one of these specialized setups? I've got my old flexy slalom deck set up with some Indy 101s and ABEC-11 Grippins and it pumps fine. Neil- I've been skating since 1976. I've pumped much of that time without knowing it was a thing. The first thing you'll read at the LDP forums is you can pump anything. I recently got the "standard" LDP truck setup and recommended bushings. That in itself was better, much better. Then I mounted them on my downhill "board". The board was a piece of poplar from Lowe's from the early 90's, not kidding. It was better for LDP than my Beer City park-n-pool deck but it's too narrow and a little dead. I've ridden my Blaster a handful of times and wow, what a difference. There are people on this forum that could carve a piece of plywood. But the right board for conditions, VIVE la différence! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) Coincidentally I've also skated since '76. I was a slalom racer back in the day so I can pump. I'm just trying to justify the expense to myself 'cause those Roes look pretty sexy. ETA - dragged out my slalom deck, it's a 29" Supaflex with a wedged Indy 101 in front and flat in the back, 70 mm 81A Abec11 Grippins. of me resurrecting it on my 50th birthday after not running cones for about 6 years. I used to be pretty active on NCDSA around 2000-2003 or so but just got bored of not having anyone else in town doing what I was doing. Edited June 5, 2014 by Neil Gendzwill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted June 5, 2014 Report Share Posted June 5, 2014 Just setup my first LDP board! Got a Bennett Vector and Tracker RTS and mounted them on my trusty Sector 9 Bamboo Pintail. Redrilled the deck for a 30" wheelbase from the standard 35, that really stiffened it up. Wedged the Bennett at 15 degrees and dewedged the Tracker at 10. Tried it out briefly last night and couldn't believe how well I could pump on a 30" wheelbase! Even so felt like the front truck needed more wedge. Not going to fool with it too much yet as I've got a 20 degree Cindrich baseplate on backorder that should be arriving soonish. Running with the 70mm 75A S9 wheels that came with that deck, may switch out for some bigger and slightly harder ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Tat Posted June 6, 2014 Report Share Posted June 6, 2014 Just setup my first LDP board! ..... Not going to fool with it too much yet as I've got a 20 degree Cindrich baseplate on backorder that should be arriving soonish. Running with the 70mm 75A S9 wheels that came with that deck, may switch out for some bigger and slightly harder ones. .... and let the tweaking commence. Love LDP. Have ridden my less this summer because I strangely decided to try riding bowls at 44 (facepalm). So much fun. OTOH I seem to be up to three skateboards all of a sudden. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted June 6, 2014 Report Share Posted June 6, 2014 Haven't ridden bowls since my 50th birthday, took a video of me grinding the local park for posterity and haven't been back to my vert setup since. That video is on the same account as the little bit of slalom a couple of posts up if you're really bored. Maybe I'll take it up again this summer. Just joined a Facebook group for skaters over 50, turns out there's a lot of us. Some of them are still really tearing it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted June 8, 2014 Report Share Posted June 8, 2014 It really is in the tweaking... I don't think I could even ride a bowl or even a board with a kick tail without some time...LDP has kind of ruined my street/bowl skating but I enjoy LDP so much more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 anyone ride with gullwing sidewinders? my bushings are getting mushy. sent gullwing an email about replacements and they didn't respond. tried searching silverfish, etc. I just don't want to purchase the wrong size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 Send an email to Stoked, they can set you up with the right bushings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted August 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Pumping Cop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmetroland Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Skateboarding is not a crime; It's fighting crime! Duane Peters is rolling over in the grave he should have, by all accounts, occupied ten years ago, but somehow has managed to avoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 I have been putting in some miles lately. Morning cruises from Torrance to El Porto and back. A really fun pump at about 14 miles round trip. Lots of scenery too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmetroland Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 I have been putting in some miles lately. Morning cruises from Torrance to El Porto and back. A really fun pump at about 14 miles round trip. Lots of scenery too What's the elapsed time for 14 miles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 (edited) About an hour/half. It's not unobstructed and I'm not flying the whole time but I very rarely will push except when I have to slow below the easy "pump threshold" Faster than the casual cyclists but not as quick as the roadies... Edited August 4, 2015 by slopestar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 I'm at our summer house at Croatian Adriatic. I ride on the marble tiled riva: Other day I ran over a melted chewing gum, I did "Supermen" and skate ended in the sea between those small boats. Had to dive to get it. Refreshing ;) Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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